Scott Dunlap's blog of trail running, ultrarunning, triathlon, and other life adventures. I enjoy the physical, emotional, and spiritual journey of outdoor events and the chance to meet cool people. This blog contains interviews, research, original fiction, new product ideas, and all things trail running.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

An Ode to the Lottery Gods

Oh, great lottery Gods

Those who control my destiny

You awesome powers who choose my fate

Who in one act of will, make me a participant in Western States, Miwok, Ironman Hawaii, Way Too Cool, or none of the above

Your gifts fills my life with adventure, my soul with new experience and friends, and my calendar with endless workouts that build perseverance and gratitude

I honor thy choice with this promise

To respect the event(s) you choose by living them fully

To train to the best of my ability, and put it on the line on the chosen day

To meet every smiling face at the start, at every aid station, and at the finish, and return those smiles with authentic appreciation

By taking pictures, retelling stories endlessly, so that your legends live on

Or perhaps to honor the gift of being chosen for none of the above

And be forced to seek new races and adventures to fill my soul in unexpected ways

OMG, Mark. You just made this one of the most hilarious posts of the year!

For those of you who don't know, Mark is the mastermind behind the new Western States online lottery system that was so rediculously easy to use. His random number generator is basically my lottery god. :)

Robert - Thanks so much for the kudos! I was thinking last weekend how thankful I was for readers who leave thoughtful comments. Sometimes they show up in my inbox right when I need some good vibes. It's kind of magical that way.

Scott, good luck on the lottery. I will be there cheering on friends names..Being in Hawaii during the draw...you should post beach pics as the sun rises during the live ws drawing..just have a mai tai in your hand smiling to those in cold northern ca...

the lottery gods did not smile upon me for the WS100. I hope I have better luck with Miwok 100K. My brother got in to WS100, so I will be pacing/crewing him; which is also quite an experience. Scott, good luck in the Miwok lottery!

Good luck and FAB post. I am totally bummed about Way Too Cool. Part of the fun is sitting there hitting "reload" over and over while you wait for active.com to open. And then seeing how quickly it fills up. My friends and I all send emails the morning of registration. "I'm in." "I'm in." "I'm in." "I didn't get in." Doh! Lottery it is this year.

About Me

I'm a technology entrepreneur who took up trail running and triathloning back in 2001 to get off the work treadmill and see a bit more of the outdoors. I also love to eat, so the exercise helps me justify those extra helpings. ;oP I'm always interested in learning more about trail running - please comment and link away!

Want to advertise on this blog, reach 100k+ users/month who love the outdoors, and improve your Google PageRank? Give me a shout at scottdunlap [at] yahoo.com.

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